Wait a minute, where is my master?

"Yes, that's the one!"

Upon hearing these words from a Pan Shi Valley disciple, the eyes of the surrounding sect cultivators also lit up.

Only Zhao Ming's eyes flickered with a trace of reluctance.

Pan Shi Valley possessed a unique body cultivation secret technique called "Stacked Mountains" which symbolizes the continuous and interconnected nature of mountains.

The power of this magic relates to the number of people; the more people there are, the stronger it becomes.

However, it had its drawbacks.

Starting with the advantages, cultivators who have practiced this magic need only link to each other to activate it, establishing a certain connection.

At the same time, cultivators who have established this connection will receive different degrees of physical reinforcement, vitality, and strength enhancement.

With each additional person, the power of this secret technique grows stronger.

If the twenty Pan Shi Valley cultivators present were to link up, they could even withstand attacks from the Tribulation Crossing Realm for a brief moment before dying.

However, as with all things in the world, what is gained must be lost.

Consider how terrifying the force would be if all body cultivators in the Nine Provinces Realm were to practice this technique and then link up.

Though such a situation will certainly not occur, all body cultivation disciples of Pan Shi Valley have indeed practiced it.

When their entire sect links together, they also constitute a considerable force.

So why is Pan Shi Valley still only one of the Four Great Immortal Sects and not replacing Kunlun Immortal Palace to become the strongest sect in the Nine Provinces?

Because this secret technique has a very fatal flaw.

Once the technique is initiated and the cultivation peers are interconnected, most of them become extremely sluggish, which is said to be due to the physical enhancement being too intense for the Spiritual Sense to withstand.

The creator of this secret technique also thought of a solution to this problem.

That was to designate a main practitioner, and the rest of the cultivators would, as much as possible through their connection, transfer their Spiritual Power to ensure one person remained mentally clear.

However, this was only a temporary measure.

Exceeding a certain time limit, if the cultivators performing this secret technique did not disengage their connection, they would place tremendous stress on their own Spiritual Senses, resulting in irreversible damage.

Therefore, outsiders rarely witness Pan Shi Valley cultivators using this technique.

Most of the time, this secret technique acts as a last resort or is employed only when the sect faces a life-or-death situation.

But today was different.

In this trial with a fixed target (Crystal Soul), the gathered individuals only needed to ensure Qiu Li's clarity of mind, allowing him to strike directly at the heart while the sluggish cultivators defended their own Crystal Soul.

After all, this game board was only a hundred miles in size, so there was no need to worry about the linking time being too long or having to pursue anything.

After hearing the suggestion, Qiu Li pondered for a moment, grasped the key point, and with a fan-sized hand, smacked his own head and said.

"Hiss, that really hurts, I guess I put too much strength into it.

Cough, but your suggestion is indeed good, those three newcomers' strengths are unclear, using 'Stacked Mountains' is indeed safer."

The chief disciple of Pan Shi Valley rubbed the back of his head that he had made red and affirmed the suggestion.

Zhao Ming, seeing his senior sect brother agree to the strategy, felt even more reluctant in his heart, considering himself to be one of the few intellectually capable body cultivators of Pan Shi Valley.

He truly did not want to experience that dull, sluggish sensation.

It was akin to having someone borrow his brain!

Moreover, besides this, he had some personal issues he found difficult to speak of.

But with the senior sect brother having spoken, even if he was reluctant, he had no choice, given that the situation outweighed personal preferences.

Qiu Li waved to the disciples of Pan Shi Valley, and nineteen of them lined up in a row.

He stood opposite everyone, took the lead in stirring up the Spiritual Power within his body, and started using the "Stacked Mountains" secret technique.

"Hum!"

A mountain shadow, not particularly tall but looking extremely solid, appeared behind Qiu Li.

Though the mountain was but a shadow, the space nearby slightly distorted when it appeared, as if struggling to bear its weight.

After the shadow of the mountain emerged, Qiu Li swung his fan-sized hand, and the shadow flew from his back into the air.

The nineteen cultivators standing opposite him, seeing their senior brother had already used their unique secret technique, also stirred the Spiritual Power within their bodies and began using the "Stacked Mountains" magic.

"Hum! Hum! Hum!"

Nineteen mountain shadows appeared behind them in turn, and while the mountains that these bald, brawny men from Pan Shi Valley conjured were not as massive and solid as Qiu Li's, they were still impressive when seen individually.

Only the disciple from Pan Shi Valley named Zhao Ming had a mountain shadow behind him that was both thin and long, with a peculiar crook at its peak, utterly different from the thick mountains the other cultivators conjured.

Even judging by the shadows alone, Qiu Li and the other eighteen bald heads were clearly from the same faction.

Zhao Ming's thin and long mountain shadow was obviously the odd one out.

"Pfft."

Some of the Pan Shi Valley disciples standing nearby glimpsed this scene out of the corner of their eyes, looked back out of curiosity, and couldn't help but snicker.

This laugh set off a chain reaction, with others curious about what their companions were laughing at, turning their heads to look, and then joining in the laughter.

Soon, the bodies of the eighteen bald cultivators started to shake uncontrollably.

Zhao Ming's expression was as unsightly as if he had eaten a dead fly. He rarely had the opportunity to use the "Stacked Mountains" secret technique in his daily life.

Aside from the master who taught him initially, few within the sect knew about the peculiar shape of the mountain shadow he conjured.

However, after the end of this journey to the Secret Realm, surely all the sect's cultivators would know.

Zhao Ming kept consoling himself in his heart.

"Since I must be a body cultivator with brains, it's normal for me to be a bit special. Although the mountain shadow I conjure is a bit odd, I am smarter than they are!"

He kept repeating the last phrase in his heart: "I am smarter than they are, I am smarter than they are..."

"Damn it, so my mountain shadow is a bit special, can you please stop laughing!"

Finally, under the barely audible laughter surrounding him, Zhao Ming couldn't help but roar out loud.

He was desperately hoping that the "Stacked Mountains" technique would quickly take shape, so that everyone, dazed and weighed down, would temporarily forget about this matter!

"Alright, hurry up and stimulate the Spiritual Power, link up the magic, and don't waste any more time," said Qiu Li, standing opposite the nineteen, as he suppressed his laughter, his face twisted, but his voice stern, hastening everyone.

"Senior brother is still good to me!"

Zhao Ming, seeing that Qiu Li was not only not laughing at him but was also speaking up for him, felt a warm current rise in his heart.

He quickly stirred up the Spiritual Power, and sent the shadow of the mountain behind him into the air.

The other eighteen cultivators, seeing their senior brother had spoken, also suppressed their laughter and got to work, gathering the shadows behind them into the air.

Twenty mountain shadows floated in the air. As everyone stimulated the Secret Technique, a burst of earthy yellow light flickered, and the twenty mountain shadows linked together, forming a continuous mountain range.

This mountain range looked extremely solid and magnificent. The only discordant part was a thin, long rock column with a crook, jutting out in the middle but slightly to the left of the range.

"Pfft!"

Upon seeing this, Qiu Li, with his contorted expression, ultimately couldn't suppress his laughter.